Be contactable on your own terms...
This tip is inspired by a business I have worked with who shall remain nameless. A great business with a great reputation but a secret marketing problem that was letting the business down greatly. The MD did not like to answer the phone.
Leads were coming in to the business and opportunities were knocking on his door but he was so busy dealing with day to day issues that answering the phone was an inconvenience to him. However, all his marketing material, his website, his vehicles, business cards….everything, told potential customers to call his mobile number. So they did…when the call was not answered they called someone else leaving a hole in his sales bucket.
The problem was fixed quickly when we sorted a telephone answering service for him but it goes to show you need to be contactable on your own terms otherwise it will not work. It is absolutely fine to prefer some ways of contact over others but you need to think it through and be committed to that way of contact. Simple, yes. Obvious, yes. A problem, frequently.
Ultimately, there is no point doing any marketing if you fall at the last fence of someone making contact.
The moral of the story is this…
Don't promise to be available in a certain way if you don't want to be. Do business on your terms. Make it clear, make it customer friendly but don't promise something that you can't deliver. Your customers will respect you for it.
Oh and on that subject, I like to interact on twitter & facebook so it would be lovely to see you there
https://twitter.com/clairenield
http://www.facebook.com/coomarketing
Claire x